Koumas resurgent as Albion look to begin their promotion push

Monday 1 January 2007 17.22 EST
First published on Monday 1 January 2007 17.22 EST

There was an ominous inevitability about this result that bodes well for West Bromwich Albion. Largely outplayed for long periods, they nevertheless secured a fifth home win on the bounce and maintained their pursuit of the top two.

The West Bromwich manager, Tony Mowbray, though, refuses to accept momentum is building behind the Baggies' promotion push. "I never feel like that really," he said. "The way I see football, and especially with this club with the expectation level that is there, you're only one defeat away from another crisis. Nobody's beating the drum about anything here. We'll just go about our work and try and win games when they come along."

But with a squad that is if anything stronger than the one that competed gamely in the top flight last season, there seems to be no reason why Albion should not leave the pack behind and grab second place for themselves. With Birmingham seemingly out on their own, but no side making an irresistible case for runner-up, the prize is there for the taking.

Fifth is Albion's highest position since early November and with an appetising run of games ahead - the current bottom three are all opponents in their next five fixtures - Mowbray should be optimistic. He is less than three months into his job at The Hawthorns and is beginning to stamp his mark on the side.

Only five players who started Bryan Robson's final game in charge in September were in the first XI on Saturday, with one change particularly influential. Jason Koumas had a strained relationship with Robson, spent last season on loan at Cardiff and seemed certain to join the Bluebirds full-time in the summer after failing to report for pre-season training with the Baggies. A rapprochement with the manager followed but the midfielder did not start a game until Nigel Pearson's first game as caretaker.

Now the Welsh international is a crucial cog, so much so that Mowbray changed his system at half-time here, bringing Diomansy Kamara to the left in order to deploy his most creative player more centrally. Koumas responded with a sumptuous 25-yarder that found the top corner.

"We've got players with the ability to win matches out of nothing," said Mowbray. "We've seen it all season. He's got the ability to score wonderful goals and win you matches on days like today when the team isn't as fluent as it might be."

Koumas's goal, his sixth in his last nine games, doubled the advantage secured by Kamara, who had reacted first when his penalty was saved. That spot-kick was reason for Ipswich ire - given for handball after Kamara struck the ball at Sylvain Legwinski from little more than a yard. "Shocking" was Jim Magilton's verdict.

The Ipswich manager had a case and his side were intermittently impressive, if lacking a cutting edge. Albion, though, will need those slices of luck if they are to clamber above the play-off melee. They will also need to hold their squad together and appear capable of doing so.

The Premiership vultures that hovered over the central defender Curtis Davies in the summer seem now to have moved across the West Midlands to circle Matthew Upson at Birmingham and Albion are financially strong enough to have resisted a £1.5m offer from Middlesbrough for Zoltan Gera last week.